Brick & Mortar
Signs & Displays
Enliven the Space
Signs, Decals & Design for Walls & Windows
In retail, business, gallery, or museum settings, design is an invitation to experience for the people in your community. The integration of logo or design into a space strengthens your brand when it is executed professionally and creatively. Thoughtful integration of design onto windows and walls can enliven the space, instruct, or educate.
The visual flow of design throughout the interior of a space and its exterior, can be difficult to imagine. I help clients with this process by measuring, photographing, and providing mock ups using approximate scale and color that help them visualize how logos, business hours, and other elements of design will look on walls, doors, windows, and displays. (Even the color of walls, rugs, and woodwork can be changed to help with decor visualization.)
Working as a team with clients and sign vendors, I help clients with planning, design, management of quote acquisition, and participation in decision-making on materials, size, and color.
Signs & Displays
Exterior Bracket Signs
Raised Lettering on Walls
Door & Window Decals
Reception Signs
Event or In-Space Signs
Banners & Yard Signs
Mobile Store & Vehicle Wraps
Vendor Decisions & Packaging Materials Selection Assistance*
Quote Acquisition & Printer or Vendor Communication
Product Environment
Vendor Decision Assistance
Environment Assessment & Measuring
Window & Door Display Mock / Sign or Decal Mock Up (using actual photos of the environment, a window display or store shelf, very close to scale)
*Note: Whenever possible, I help guide clients toward using high-quality materials with less environmental impact and paths to improve waste efficiency and cost through trusted vendors, communication, and new research.
Interpretive Sign Feature
Met Council’s Sustainable Landscape Restoration Program
I worked with the Met Council to create design standards for communications materials for their Sustainable Landscape Restoration Program — a project that extends to 7 counties throughout the Twin Cities. The program launched to convert lift station properties to sustainable landscapes to help improve water quality and create a more resilient ecosystem.
Working with their senior outreach coordinator, I created a set of communications materials and design templates for the program. We collaborated to create and refine copy to convey to residents benefits and timelines for establishing native plantings, bee lawn, and prairie, woodland, and wetland habitats. Following the Met Council’s brand standards, I designed templates for the Sustainable Landscapes Restoration Program that contractors will be able to use to create materials for each installation site. Materials include project fact sheets, boards for pop-up meetings, boundary markers, curbside signs, temporary message boards, and permanent interpretive signs. In addition, I was assigned the role of illustrating a suite of hand-drawn illustrations, including a signature logo for the Sustainable Landscapes Restoration program and an ecosystem illustration for permanent interpretive signs that will be installed at each location on completion.
Met Council’s Sustainable Landscape Restoration Project Signature Logo: American goldfinch, rusty-patched bumble bee, big bluestem, wild geranium, butterfly weed.
As a Minnesota Master Naturalist volunteer, I was able to draw upon my knowledge of Minnesota native plants and flowers. To ensure themes, messaging, and installation details aligned with the overall vision of the project, we met with local landscape installation team leaders and received guidance from an expert in the nation’s largest ecological restoration company. The interpretive sign highlights how plant diversity and native plantings contribute to clean water and ecosystem resiliency and marks the establishment of each landscape.
Trumpeter swans, American goldfinch, rusty-patched bumble bee. Prairie: Purple coneflower, big bluestem, wild geranium, butterfly weed. Bee-lawn: Dutch white clover, creeping thyme. Wetland: Sensitive fern, horsetail, ostrich fern. Woodland: Red oak, white oak.
Sign Feature
Selby Acupuncture
During a building renovation at their St. Paul clinic, a reception sign was designed to increase brand visibility for Selby Acupuncture inside the historic building of indoor shops. Business is thriving, so after expanding to a second location in Edina, the reception sign was recreated for the new clinic, with some adjustments to fit the new space. Working together over a decade ago, we have worked together to developed their WordPress website and design email campaigns, brochures, in-clinic signs, event banners, gift certificates, treatment-specific materials, and more.
Exterior Sign Feature
Storied Owl Books
This local, brick & mortar independent bookseller opened in Highland Park, St. Paul in 2019. It was an honor to help Marcus and Amy shape the brand, from font selection and bookmark design to exterior signs. After photographing several angles of their storefront, I was able to show them a mock up of the store with a new paint color and make recommendations for sign placement and size. The careful measuring and thoughtful planning for exterior signs and window decals were key in welcoming the public to this beautifully-curated bookstore.
Window Display Feature
Roundtable Coffee
This coffee plant illustration, along with logo and beaver mascot, was created for the window at Roundtable Coffee. In addition to showcasing their playful brand, our objective was to increase visibility for their tiny shop and roastery that is tucked away in the Midway neighborhood.
